With sadness we say goodbye to Shirley Stekel

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our friend Shirley Stekel.  An avid volunteer and a woman of many accomplishments, Shirley's unexpected death on June 15 will leave a hole in our hearts.

Shirley hiking through a restored prairie
here in Wisconsin

It appears she fainted while gardening, was able to call 911 and was medflighted to Madison where she underwent surgery.  She died later of an aneurysm. 

Shirley loved the outdoors. At right is a picture of her with walking poles hiking through a restored prairie here in Wisconsin. In her volunteer work at Rotary Botanical Gardens she preferred to work as a docent, guiding children through the gardens.

According to the OSU Alumni website she retired from the Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. Something of a ground breaker, when she began studying for her BA she was the only woman in her math and physics classes and remembers walking into the old Men’s gym for mass exams and feeling very alone. She said “I just liked physics and math, and wanted to see how far I could go with it. But another very important part of feeling comfortable on campus were my friends at Winston House. There were 30 -35 women who lived and worked together there. Most quarters, I had a class with someone from the House. German, American Literature, Music Appreciation, etc. provided enough credits for a BA.” She had room for extra courses because she was not required to take ROTC.

She went on to get her Masters in Physics at OSU before moving on to faculty positions in Washington and Michigan and finally an Assistant Professorship at Whitewater with a sabbatical break at the Indiana Synchrotron facility. She was a long term supporter of Physics at OSU.

Her work as a volunteer at RBG brought her in contact with others of like mind. She was much loved and will be sorely missed.  We will be sending a condolence card to her husband, Frank.

The Children's Education volunteers plan to purchase a memorial brick at RBG. The RPMGA Advisory Committee was queried as to whether we would like to be involved. Consensus was that we would. If you are interested in donating toward a memorial brick please contact Mary Kay Thompson at 608-322-4800 or by email at mastergardenermary@gmail.com.